Elijah’s Park
In my work with Bright Brothers Strategy Group, I’m constantly on the lookout for design inspiration, best practices and stories from cities, districts and downtowns that inform our strategic approach and service to our placemaking clients. Having experienced Elijah’s Park in Baltimore Peninsula first-hand, I can tell you that the vibrant colors, organic design and functional flexibility of the sculptural canopy installation have lived in my head rent free now for over a year. In short, I’m obsessed! I wanted to dive deeper, learn more, and better understand the story behind how and why the installation was built, and what the future holds for a new community gathering space for Baltimoreans. Fortunately for me, I have front row access to one of the adept designers who contributed to the installation as part of the PI.KL Studio design team — and who has since launched Praxis Placemaking Studio. So here goes, and here’s what I learned from Brian Baksa.
The Brief: Create a pavilion structure that provides cover and shade for park-goers, and a pavilion building for Baltimore City Recs & Park. The canopy structure was designed to be seen or experienced in 360 degrees due to the tall buildings surrounding the park. After-hours lighting was a goal of the project, so the community can utilize the park during all day parts. The defining North Star for this installation is to be a “statement” in the park, as it is a high-profile development and investment into a former industrial area, adapted to provide housing, commercial retail, and offices for the city’s burgeoning population.
Photo by Josh Yeager
I wanted to dive deeper, learn more, and better understand the story behind how and why the installation was built, and what the future holds for a new community gathering space for Baltimoreans.
The Approach: Inspired by the dappled shade that organic tree canopies provide, the approach was to deploy large scale steel members and custom-perforated panels to intimate the stippled lighting effect found on forest floors. Additionally, the structures are placed on a 20’x20’ grid at varying heights so that when viewed from any angle, it evokes a sylvanesque experience. Integrated up-lights at the base of each sculpture encourage nighttime activation, and the celebration of specific events like Pride, Valentine’s Day, local sports wins and team colors. The lighting infrastructure is variable and programmable. An LED illumination array was installed, featuring four projection fixtures per each of the 14 canopy sculptures to customize the look, feel and colorways of the park after dark.
The Result: Today Elijah’s Park is the centerpiece of a multi-use development and net new neighborhood. The park, designed by landscape architect Hoerr Schaudt, boasts a large oval multipurpose lawn, native trees and plants, a mural by Jessie & Katey, a BLM mosaic designed by the UMBC Choice Program, as well as an innovative open play space. The play area is a nod to progressive social ideals commonly found in Europe, and beginning to trickle into American placemaking and landscape design. Danish agency MONSTRUM imagined the open play-space in line with vetted concepts around social interactions, in an accordance with Danish design principles. Please visit Baltimore Peninsula to learn more.